FO: Simplicity 1949

I might be the only knitter in history who is a bit ambivalent about baby knits.  (Although I have something on the needles at the moment that may change my mind.)  To me, it seems like a lot of fuss and finishing, and not as much time just knitting. 

Sewing for kids, though, is something I do without grumbling.  Here's the thing: Sewing is all finishing work.  There's no sewing equivalent of knitting's mindless stockinette for me, so all of sewing takes concentration.  Kids garments are smaller, so that equals smaller amounts of concentration.  (If my logic here is not rock solid, sorry.)  Also, I can fit all of a kid's garment on my dining room table when I'm cutting it out, and they take way less fabric.  I also don't worry about fit issues. 

So as we were packing up our old house and getting ready to move, I kept working on this sweet little summer dress for Little A, who is three.  It was the perfect thing to knock out in a few spare minutes during those hectic weeks. 

The pattern is Simplicity 1949, which is apparently OOP now.  Who makes those decisions?  This is a great dress that I'll go to as long as the pattern fits.  I made the largest size, and it fits Little A well with a little room to grow.  She's been wearing it all summer, calling it her umbrella dress.

The dress came together really well, with one notable exception:

Is that not the saddest zipper install you've ever seen?  I'd already been working on the dress for about three weeks, 15 minutes at a time, and I was ready to be done.  I can't remember exactly what happened, but I do know that since, I've watched Sunni's free zipper install class on Craftsy, and I am ready for my next zipper. 

I have a couple more patterns for Little A that I want to get to for the fall.  It's nice to sew her a couple of quick things and rack up some successful FOs!

FO: Birthday outfit, New Look 6205 and Miss Marple cardi

Our wonderful daughter turns 3 this weekend, and for her birthday, she asked me to make a purple dress.  She asked me this way back in January (when we made a birthday cake together for her dad, and she started getting excited about birthdays), so I'm not sure she'll remember this request, but I wanted the Mom of the Year award, so I followed through.

I used New Look 6205 again (first version here) in a Joel Dewberry print.  This time, I opted for the little strapped sleeves instead of the cap sleeves.

Again, the bodice is lined, but in a sort of weird way that still requires you to finish the neckline with bias tape.

I made a size 3, and the neckline is a bit big on our 3 year old, but at least it gives her room to grow. 

For the sweater, I used a pattern called Miss Marple.

Isn't that the best name for a little girl's cardigan?  Miss Marple was an Agatha Christie character, right?  I used two skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca that I had in my stash.  They were intended for a hat/cowl set, but I didn't like those patterns in this yarn.  So much the better, because it works perfectly for this pattern. Although I'm not sure anyone needs an alpaca/wool sweater in late April. 

The knitting only took a week or so, but it took me forever to finish the cardigan (see my previous confession regarding button anxiety).  I really wanted to practice finishing the cardigan with grosgrain ribbon on the button band.  This was good practice, and came out marginally successful.  In the first place, the grosgrain ribbon is the wrong color, but this shade purple was impossible to match.

The main problem is that my knitted buttonholes were horizontal.  I really wanted them to be vertical, so I machine stitched vertical buttonholes on the ribbon.  I'm not sure why I got such a bee in my bonnet about making the buttonholes vertical, but it seemed very important at the time.  The button holes are a little tight, and actually, the bottom one won't go through at all.  I may have to fix that. 

I found these great buttons on beadfreaky on etsy.  Again, not exactly the right purple, but I think they still work. Raverly page here.

So Happy Birthday, dear daughter!  We love you.  Enjoy your purple dress and your special day!

FO: Finished, with buttons even! Wasabi Cardi

I always feel like I should knit more cardigans.  Everyone loves them and talks about how easy they are.  And then I knit one and it sits for three weeks without buttons, and I wonder, What's easy about this?  If it were a pullover, I'd be wearing it by now.  I hate picking out buttons for the same reason I hate deciding where to hang pictures on the walls.  It feels permanent, and a bad decision will ruin things and haunt me for the rest of eternity.  Perfection is the enemy of done.

I couldn't find pink buttons that I liked or were the right size, so I went with white buttons with little white embossed flowers on them.  I sewed one on and instantly knew it wasn't right.  I showed my husband, and he put his finger right on it.  The white button was almost silvery, and the rest of the cardi is golden.  "Yellow would be better," he said.  Inspired!

One trip to the fabric store later and I had perfect non-haunting buttons, and later that day had a finished cardi.  Thanks, Honey! 

Pattern: Wasabi by Amber Bertram.  It's a free pattern!

Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll Tonal.  This is a great sock yarn because it wears really well.  It's not luxurious, but for a child's sweater, it should be a good fit.  I bought two skeins, but it only took one.  I turned the second one into a Cachou cowl. 

The yarn is tonal, and the very second I stopped the front V-neck increases, I got intense pooling.  This yarn has a tiny golden streak, and it was creating a little pot of gold in the back left.  So I alternated rows working both sides of my skein, and that fixed the problem.  It's not very noticeable from the front.

Process: This one was fun to knit.  You start with a provisional cast on for the center back lace panel, and do short rows in lace to make the panel curve over the shoulders.  Short rows in lace!  Knitting is amazing.  When you knit to where the raglan increasing begins, you pick up stitches along the lace panel and start your increases.  After that, it's a normal top-down raglan cardi.  I was actually done before I knew it, and was a little sad to see it end!

The sleeves have a little cuff detail.  I don't think I followed the directions exactly, partly because I couldn't really understand them and partly because I figured out how to do it myself.  I love that little detail. 

Product: I love it, and it fits my daughter very well, with a little room to grow for the summer.  It does look like it will be a little loose around the shoulders, and other Ravelers have commented as such.  I don't think it will be a huge problem, though. 

New techniques: Mmm, none really.  Asking my husband for button advice? 

FO: New Look 6205

I'm trying to make my daughter a few more things, especially sewn clothes, since sewing is so speedy (relative to knitting).  I really don't care for so many of the children's clothes currently on the market.  They all seem to be more appropriate for American Idol contestants than little kids--too much glitter and neon and sequins.  I tend to like beautiful prints and unique colors and more classic shapes with slightly quirky color schemes.  I love Boden. 

So for Easter, I set out to make a Boden inspired dress.  I used a quilting cotton I found on fabric.com, and New Look 6205, which is a new pattern.  Here is the result:

  

 This is a raglan sleeve dress with a pleated skirt.  I liked that the pleats allowed for a fuller skirt without being gathered.  The sleeves provided for a bit of coverage without being puffy.  I love the pattern details and I love the resulting dress!

The process was a little weird.  The bodice is lined, but the sleeves aren't!  Because it's not really a full lining, you have to finish the neckline with bias tape.  I'm not super experienced with lining garments, but this seems a little odd to me.  Why not just figure out how to line the whole thing?  I didn't really spend the time to figure it out myself, either.  In fact, it was a little confusing how to sew the lining in.  You sew it along the raglan seams, with the lining right side facing the sleeve wrong side and the bodice right side. 

I'm trying to muster up the energy to repress that center pleat. 

The directions called for sewing the skirt to the bodice and lining so the raw edges would be showing inside the garment.  I thought that was a little silly, so I slip stitched the lining to the bodice/skirt seam allowance, and it looks clean and should feel comfortable. 

One thing I haven't figured out how to do is really finish the sleeve seams.  These are two-piece sleeves so that you get a really nice curve on the top.  But it seems like you'd need to clip the seams, which are then left raw because they aren't lined.  How would you finish clipped seams?  One on sleeve, I zig-zaged the seam allowance and then clipped notches.  On the other, I clipped notches and then zig-zagged.  I can't remember which one I liked better.  

I also knit her a sweet little cardigan.  

 

It's probably a little bit bigger than it needs to be, but then it will fit all summer.  I still need to sew on buttons before I can call it done and write a review of it.  Buttons will always be the death of me.  

 

I'm really excited for her to wear her new dress and sweater!  Since she'll have to share attention with a baby soon, I wanted her to feel special in a new dress.  She'll be three in a month, and she's really starting to get into telling people, "My momma made this for me!"  So I might have the messiest house in the zip code, but hey, I made a cute dress.